


Margaritaville (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Sentient Water Tornado)

by SummerRed



Category: Haven - Fandom, Nikita (TV 2010), Revenge (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-10
Packaged: 2018-02-28 21:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2748092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerRed/pseuds/SummerRed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is why you should never vacation in Haven.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Margaritaville (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Sentient Water Tornado)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wanderlustlover](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderlustlover/gifts).



> Set mid-season 4 for Haven, post-finale for Nikita, and between seasons 3 and 4 for Revenge.

There were times when Audrey thought Nathan’s true Trouble was preternatural stubbornness.

“Maybe the size of the handprint is important?”

Audrey sighed. It wasn’t that the mysterious Trouble-inducing handprints weren’t important, but: “I thought we were talking about the theft at the Werner’s house.”

“Someone stole the Werner’s prize begonias, Parker. Somehow I think the mysterious handprints are more important.”

Audrey hissed at him, reflexively checking to make sure the door to their office was shut. “ _Nathan_.”

“It’s okay. No one can hear us.”

“It’s not okay.” Audrey frowned at him. “You know, sometimes I think you _want_ the Guard to find out I’m not Lexie.”

Nathan quite noticeably didn’t meet Audrey’s eye.

"You know, the Guard that thinks me — _Audrey Parker_ me, not _Lexie_ me — killing you will end the troubles." 

Nathan continued to stare at the paperwork on his desk.

“And,” Audrey added, “Two weeks you put a gun in my hand and tried to make me shoot you, even though at the time you thought I was Lexie, which meant shooting you wouldn’t have done a thing to save Haven.”

The lack of eye contact was reaching epic proportions. Audrey’s chest suddenly started to feel a bit tight. “Nathan, are you suicidal?”

“That’s ridiculous,” Nathan said, glaring at the file in front of him as if he could spontaneously develop a fire-starting Trouble if he just concentrated hard enough.

The tightness in Audrey’s chest was making it hard to breathe. “Is it?”

Nathan lifted his chin and finally looked Audrey in the eye. His expression was not promising. “What about the handprint?” he asked flatly. “What does it look like?”

Audrey swallowed hard. Shit. Once Nathan got that look on his face, the only cure was half-price margaritas at Tuesday Taco Night at the Gull. Good news was that it was Tuesday. Bad news was that margaritas weren’t available until five. Worse news was that Nathan could only be persuaded to drink margaritas if he was in a relatively good mood, which meant Audrey had exactly seven hours to improve Nathan’s temperament enough for him to drink.

Once he was liquored up, well, then she’d get some damn answers if she had to resort to torture to get the job done. Duke would probably help.

As if summoned by her thought, the door opened and Duke’s head popped in. “So, there’s a sudden storm out near Norn’s Island.”

It took a second for Audrey to drag her attention from the Problem of Nathan and back to the somewhat-less-exasperating Problems of Haven. “Okay. Any reason why you felt the need to come down here and tell us this?”

Duke rolled his eyes and stepped fully into the office, apparently completely unaffected by the tension in the room. “When I say ‘sudden’, I mean _really_ sudden. Like it came out of nowhere.”

“Damn,” Nathan sighed. “I thought Marion was doing better.”

Audrey frowned. “What happened to Marion? Are she and Conrad fighting?”

Nathan’s face went blank. “Conrad died. Heart attack. While you were—”

“—in the barn,” Audrey finished grimly. Shit. This day just got better and better. “Damn it. They were so happy together.”

“So I guess we’re going to Marion’s place?”

Audrey glanced over at Duke. “What’s the rush? You said the storm was over the water.”

Duke looked distinctly shifty. “There may be a boat out there. Or two.”

“The tourist ferry,” Nathan said, frowning. “It’s running today?”

“Tourist ferry?” Audrey repeated doubtfully. “In Haven? To where?”

“Norn’s Island, usually,” Nathan answered. “But it doesn’t run regularly. Just when a tour group schedules it.”

“Crappy timing,” Audrey said with a sigh. “Is the boat sturdy enough? How bad is the storm?”

“The boat’s probably fine,” Duke said. “That boat, anyway. There might be another boat out there, a charter.”

“And how do you know that?” Nathan asked suspiciously.

“Because some guy tried to charter my boat to follow the ferry. I thought he seemed sketchy, so I said no.”

Audrey and Nathan stared at him incredulously.

“Okay, fine. I had plans with Jennifer. Point is, I checked with the marina and they said that he chartered the Kinny.”

“This guy – did he look like he might be related to Marion?” Nathan asked, sounding torn between hope and resignation.

“Honestly? No. But it’s not like that really means anything.”

“Marion didn’t have any family,” Audrey said. “That’s why her trouble was triggered by her Mom dying. Which means that Marion’s the one causing this.” Fortunately, Marion had a lot of practice at calming herself down. Good thing, too, since Marion’s Trouble had the potential to cause massive fatalities if it got too far out of control.

“So, where is Marion now?”

oOo

The floor heaved under Nikita’s feet, and she had to grab the nearest overstuffed velvet monstrosity to hold her balance. She could hear the waves crashing hard overhead; the metal of the boat straining to hold together. Through the ceiling she heard panicked shouting from the deck – the crew seemed just as surprised by this sudden storm as she was.

Outside the porthole, she knew she’d see clouds as dark as twilight, intercut by flickering lightning. She also might see another tornado, which was why she wasn’t actually looking out the porthole; much better to keep her attention inside, where she had some say over her chances of surviving.

The boat crashed through another wave, lifting up into the air for a second before slamming down against the water. The huddled crowd of socialites in the corner of the room produced another round of shrieking, and Nikita winced. This cabin was much too small for a couple dozen terrified people.

A flash of movement on the edge of the crowd caught Nikita’s eye, and she glanced over to see a pretty blonde woman step free of the tangle of passengers. The woman was talking into a cell phone, so she was either crazy, or her phone had significantly more range than Nikita’s. Considering Nikita’s phone was a Seymour Birkoff original, topping it was an impressive achievement.

Fortunately, Birkoff’s phone had a few non-standard upgrades. It took just a few taps to clone the woman’s phone and turn on Nikita’s Bluetooth.

_"—swear Nolan, the next time you try and send me on a ‘vacation’, I’m going to tell Jack about your little crush on him.”_

_“Ah-ah. You know what they say about pots and kettles.”_

_“I don’t have a crush on Jack. Not anymore. Not after—“_

There was a pause. _“Sorry, Ems. I guess I was hoping some time away from the land of lies and deceptions would help you grieve.”_

Ems sighed. _“I appreciate the thought, Nolan, but right now I’d appreciate it more if you’d call the Coast Guard.”_

_“As you wish, your revengeness.”_

Nikita raised her eyebrows at that last bit; across the room Ems’s lips twisted up in something rather too complicated to be called a smile as she pocketed the phone.

Another wave hit and Ems turned to the crowd, her face slipping into a pitch-perfect mask of terror as she contributed to the group screaming. Unlike the rest of the crowd, however, she didn’t need to cling to the ornate furniture to keep her balance.

Nikita wasn't quite as graceful. Thanks to Division training she could walk a yacht in high heels and she was never seasick, but no one had ever anticipated that she’d be working a boat mission in high seas. Wetwork like that was assigned to less attractive agents, the ones who couldn’t pull off a strapless sheath dress and who never had to let smarmy Frenchmen fuck them for information.

Nikita paused, grounding herself in the present. Some parts of her past were more difficult than others to let go, but now was not the time or place.

Moving carefully, Nikita shifted back to the wall of the cabin, carefully avoiding the scattering of other people who’d opted to avoid the huddle in the corner. The relentless motion of the boat helped; no one seemed to notice that she kept falling in the same direction every time. The strategy worked just as well when approaching the huddle.

She blamed the ocean on what happened next.

“What have we here?” Ems said, her grip on Nikita’s wrist surprisingly strong for such a small woman. Nikita's suddenly numb fingers almost dropped Em's phone. “I didn’t expect to find a pickpocket on this boat.”

oOo

Audrey surveyed the quaint cottage perched on the edge of the sea. Neatly maintained flowerbeds were artfully arranged throughout the lawn and a porch swing was placed to catch the morning sun over the ocean. “Gotta hand it to them, Vince and Dave can come through in a pinch,” Audrey said, absorbing the quiet peace that pervaded the property. “Hard to imagine what could be upsetting Marion here.”

“Telemarketers? Solicitors? Jehovah’s Witnesses?”

Nathan looked exasperated. “Didn’t you have plans with Jennifer?”

“I did, but Vince and Dave have her working on the storm story. You know how it is.”

Audrey looked out over the calm water and then up at the perfectly blue sky overhead. “Actually, Duke, do you think you could get your boat? If Marion isn’t causing this, we’re going to need to get out to Norn’s Island.”

Duke hesitated. “Are you sure? Because it sounds like this is a hell of a storm.”

“Which means those tourists are going to need us to help them as soon as possible.”

Duke scowled. “I’m calling the Coast Guard.” He hesitated. “Actually, one of you should call the Coast Guard.”

Nathan’s lips twisted. “Coast Guard commander is in the Guard.”

Duke brightened. “Perfect! I’ll call Sasquatch.” Duke wandered off, cell phone in hand.

Nathan turned to Audrey. “Ready?”

She smiled back. “Always.”

oOo

Emily eyed the woman she was holding. She was slender, beautiful and poised. The only thing that made her stand out from the crowd of trophy wives and wealthy debutantes was her clothing, which was just a touch too dressy for the occasion. Emily probably wouldn’t have even noticed if she hadn’t spent so much time learning to read fashion down to the tiniest detail; a necessity when going up against a woman like Victoria Grayson.

The boat lurched and half the people in the room went down in a tumble of pained shouts. The woman in front of Emily shifted awkwardly, but managed to stay upright despite Emily’s grip interfering with her balance. “You’ve had training.”

The woman lifted her eyebrows. “So have you.”

Emily considered the woman more closely. She looked vaguely familiar, but Emily couldn’t figure out why. She also looked like she was losing patience and Emily quickly calculated her options. None were perfect but, storm or no storm, a public fight on a yacht full of wealthy and connected people was near the bottom of the list.

Emily plucked her cell phone out of the woman’s hand, then let her go. “So. I’m guessing this isn’t just a pleasure cruise?”

The woman glanced around; it didn’t look like she wanted a public fight either. “We can’t talk here,” the woman finally said, under her breath. Louder, she added, “I have to go to the bathroom.”

Emily snorted, but obligingly offered to come along.

The woman smiled, looking surprised that Emily was able to follow her lead. “I’m Nikita,” she said as they made their way across the unsteady floor towards the door of the cabin.

“Emily,” Emily said in return, which was an interesting experience. Between the near marriage to Daniel, then the actual marriage to Daniel, then the getting shot by Daniel, then the quiet divorce from Daniel (that wasn’t all that quiet once Page Six found out about it) – well, Emily rarely had to introduce herself to people, especially people who were as rich as this group. At this level of wealth, social connections were everything.

They carried on a meaningless conversation as they stepped out of the cabin and into the hallway. Just after they cleared the door Nikita stumbled a bit as they crashed into another wave. Emily tried to help, but Nikita caught her balance and gracefully dodged Emily’s hand. Spectacular reflexes, Emily noted. Maybe even better than Emily’s.

“I think we’re okay if we keep our voices down,” Nikita said, glancing around. Even though they were alone, Nikita leaned in and spoke so quietly that Emily could barely hear her above the sound of the storm.

“Do you know anything about the cargo on this boat?”

oOo

After less than five minutes of talking to her, Audrey was sure that Marion had nothing to do with the sudden storm. For one thing, Marion seemed to be doing really well: she’d accepted Conrad’s death and was even talking about maybe one day being able to meet someone else. The Marion Audrey had met on her first day in Haven would never have been that confident.

Plus, Marion had never controlled weather at a distance. The storms she created might spread over a large area, but they were always worst at their center, right over Marion.

Of course, troubles had been acting up lately.

“Marion, has anything happened recently?”

“Anything? Like what?”

“Has anyone bothered you? Have you had any instances of missing time?”

Marion frowned. “No, nothing like that.”

Audrey glanced at Nathan. He immediately offered to wait outside. Audrey offered him a small smile in thanks, while her heart ached at this example of their connection. How could she give this up? Even to save every person in Haven?

“Uh, Lexie?” Marion asked hesitantly. “Why did Nathan leave?”

Audrey dragged her attention back to the Trouble at hand. “Something’s been happening the last few days. Troubles are getting changed.”

Marion’s eyes widened. “What? I didn’t hear anything like that.”

Not surprisingly; no one would risk upsetting Marion without good reason. “It’s not a big deal,” Audrey lied. “And I really don’t think you are the cause of this storm. Still, there’s a mark on people who have altered troubles.”

“I haven’t seen any mark on me,” Marion said quickly. “I mean… not that I look in mirrors a lot, but…”

Audrey took pity and cut Marion off. “I’m the only one who can see the mark.”

“Oh.”

Audrey waited patiently.

“Oh,” Marion said. “It’s under my clothes?”

“I don’t see anything on your face or hands, but…” Audrey tried to offer a reassuring smile. “I just need to be sure.”

Marion chewed her lip, but stood up. “Uh, do you mind turning around?”

Audrey turned on her heel and stared out the window at the perfectly cloudless day.

“Okay,” Marion said quietly. “You can turn around now.”

Audrey turned back. It took just a few seconds to confirm that there wasn’t a handprint in sight.

oOo

“I didn’t know there was cargo.” Emily’s lips twisted. “Admittedly, I haven’t been on the top of my game lately.”

Grief could do that to you, but obviously Nikita couldn’t say that out loud. “They have women in the hold,” she said instead. “White. Late teens or early twenties.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know?”

“I’ve been following these guys for a while. They loaded the women last night.”

“The island,” Emily said, and Nikita had to admit, the other woman was sharp. “That’s where they transfer them to a ship that can cross the ocean.”

“That’s what we think.”

“We?”

“I have backup. Unfortunately, he’s on another boat; we thought he could provide outside support. We didn’t expect this storm.”

“I’m not surprised. I’ve never seen a storm come in this quickly, and I’ve lived on the ocean most of my life.” She leaned in and lowered her voice. “So what was the plan?”

“Take the crew out and return the boat to shore.”

Emily looked like she wasn’t sure if she should be incredulous or impressed. “By yourself?”

“These guys are amateurs. Only one guard, aside from the crew, and he—”

“Hey, what are you doing out here?”

Nikita turned to face the newcomer, her mouth already open. Before she could say anything, however, Emily spoke, her voice suddenly half an octave higher. “Thank goodness you’re here! Where’s the restroom? My friend is seasick.”

Nikita clamped a hand over her mouth and did her best impression of trying not to hurl.

The suspicion slid off the crew member’s face. He turned to gesture down the short hallway. “It’s over—” As soon as the man was looking away, Nikita slammed her fist into the side of his skull, sending it rebounding into the wall. The man crumpled without a sound.

“Not bad,” Emily said.

“Thanks. Help me get him into the bathroom.”

Between the two of them, it didn’t take long to clear the boat. After the first crewman, Nikita took over the role of distraction while letting Emily – whose sea legs were infinitely better than Nikita’s – take over incapacitation. Nikita was impressed. Emily’s fighting style was very different from Nikita’s mix of Krav Maga and Kali, but she was ruthless and efficient, and more than capable of taking out a distracted man.

They hit their first major snag when the captain went down, falling hard on top of the unconscious body of his first officer. Nikita inspected the instruments and turned to Emily. “Any chance you know how to pilot a boat like this?”

Emily looked exasperated. “Don’t you think that’s something to consider _before_ we knock out the entire crew?”

“You have a point,” Nikita admitted. “To be fair, I was a little bit distracted by the tornado.”

They both glanced out the left side of the boat, where a tornado sat hovering about twenty feet away. No matter what direction the boat turned or how the waves tossed it about, the tornado somehow managed to stay right at that twenty foot boundary.

“When they’re on the water, they’re called water spouts,” Emily said.

“So you’ve seen them before?”

“None that behaved like that.”

Nikita turned her attention back to the instruments. “Water spout, tornado – whatever it is isn’t going to matter if this boat crashes into a rock.”

Emily let out an annoyed sigh. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do about the boat.”

“Great. I’ll get the women out of the hold in case this boat does crash.” Neither one mentioned that if the boat crashed and the captive women were still in the hold, they’d undoubtedly drown.

Nikita glanced back at the tornado, just in time to see a large fish shoot up on its way to its first, and presumably last, experience with flying. “You sure you’ll be all right by yourself?”

Emily gave her a wry smile. “Don’t worry about me. I worked alone for a long time.”

She used the past tense, which Nikita found interesting. Maybe Nolan was her Birkoff – came to the game late, but with lots of toys.

At the moment, Nikita would love to contact the original Birkoff and find out what he knew about water tornadoes exhibiting weird behavior, because if anyone had heard of experimental water tornadoes, it would be Birkhoff. Unfortunately, Sonya had dragged him to some sort of technology-free retreat and the two of them wouldn’t be back online for three more days. Nikita would have a word with Sonya about being available in case of emergencies, but she didn’t think it would be necessary. If Birkoff wasn’t making everyone miserable at the retreat with his technology withdrawal, she’d eat her left boot.

That left her short on information, though, and increasingly short on time as the boat appeared to be headed straight for an island. Running as fast as she could with the uncertain flooring, Nikita made her way to the back of the boat, where according to the boat’s design schematics, there was a trapdoor to the hold.

What happened next might have been a challenge, if there hadn’t been a drenching downpour outside. As things stood, Nikita tucked down her chin and pulled back her shoulders. With the guard thoroughly distracted by the sight of her breasts through her soaked blouse, it was child’s play to knock him out with a cosh she’d improvised out of the magazines from hers and Emily’s guns, tied into one of Emily’s stockings. With the boat moving as crazy as it was, the cosh was more accurate than a bullet and less likely to go through a wall and accidentally kill someone innocent.

Said innocents in mind, Nikita didn’t bother tying up the guard before searching the room for some sort of latch or handle to access the hidden part of the hold. The bare metal walls weren’t turning up many clues, though, and Nikita was forced to wake the guard back up.

Improvised cosh versus knee caps? No contest.

There were five women in the tiny back room of the hold, all white-faced and smelling heavily of vomit. Two of the women were crying. One had a black eye, and when she stepped out of the hidden room, she kicked the supine guard in the nuts. Twice.

Nikita figured she was doing them all a favor when she shoved the guard into the bolt hole and locked the door shut. She certainly wasn’t going to lose much sleep if the boat went down with this son of a bitch still inside.

She was herding the women up to the deck when the boat abruptly _lurched_ under her feet, sending Nikita airborne and headfirst into the wall.

Everything went black.

oOo

In point of fact, Emily had never piloted a boat anywhere near this large. Honestly, she didn’t think it was meant to be piloted by a single person; at the very least, someone should have been watching the radar. Emily was too busy trying to keep herself properly oriented into the waves to watch what might be under the water, and the result was that the boat was nearly sunk when she slammed into an underwater rock.

Fortunately it was just a glancing blow – once Emily hauled herself back up to her feet, she found that the boat still responded to the rudder. The lesson was learned, however; she didn’t know these waters well enough to try and keep the boat afloat in this storm.

Which only left one option: Emily turned the boat toward the smudge of land she could see off the port bow.

Then she pulled out her phone. If she was going to die today, she had some fences to mend.

Three minutes later she said incredulously, “What do you mean _Jack joined the police academy_?” 

oOo 

They were coming up fast on the storm. From this angle it was clearly the result of a Trouble: the line between black clouds and blue sky was sharply defined, and there was something that looked unnervingly like a watery tornado just to the left of the lurching yacht.

There was no sign of a second boat. Audrey hoped that it hadn’t sunk already.

“I don’t even know how you plan on boarding the boat in this weather,” Duke shouted over the sound of water crashing against the hull of the police boat.

Audrey and Nathan were both hanging on for everything they were worth. “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem,” Audrey shouted back. “They’re about to crash into the island!”

“You mean they’re about to crash into a rock! I’ll bet you fifty bucks that it sinks before reaching the beach!”

Even as Duke spoke, a loud screeching noise filled the air and the boat shuttered to a stop.

“No bet,” Audrey said.

“The water spout just collapsed,” Nathan said.

Sure enough, the water tornado was no more. A second later the clouds started to break up. In less than a minute the sky was clear.

“What the hell?” Duke murmured.

“Something must’ve happened to the Troubled person,” Audrey said. She glanced at Duke. “Think we can board now?”

Duke grinned. “Try and stop me.”

oOo

When Nikita woke up, the sky was blue and she was on solid ground.

She bolted upright. Or she tried to, anyway. A blinding pain in her head knocked her back down. This time something warm and soft cushioned her head as she fell. “Careful there.”

Nikita felt a surge in her chest and she smiled. “Michael.”

“Well, at least you have your memories.”

“That, and a splitting headache.” Nikita opened one eye warily. Her view of the blue sky was blocked by a shadowed face. “Mmm, I like waking up to the sight of you.”

Michael’s lips curled up into a reluctant smile, which made Nikita’s heart leap. He’d been having trouble keeping a smile off his face since the wedding. “Head injuries make you affectionate. That’s good to know.”

Nikita put a little heat into her smile. “I’m always affectionate for you.”

“You guys are adorable.”

Nikita twisted her neck to see a tiny, pretty blonde woman – _another_ tiny, pretty blonde woman – standing next to them. Unlike Emily’s poise and elegant couture, this woman was wearing comfortable, if damp, clothes and her posture was relaxed. “Nikita, right? You’re the one who saved the women on the boat.”

“I had help. Where’s Emily?”

“Here.” A pair of legs appeared and bent, and then Emily was smiling next to Nikita. “Looks like you survived.”

“Looks like.” Nikita gritted her teeth and forced her torso up until she was at least sitting. In the process, she noticed that what she’d taken for an uncomfortably rocky beach was, in fact, an uncomfortably rocky rock -- apparently sand was hard to come by in Maine. “Thanks for your help on the boat.”

“No problem,” Emily said. “It was nice to help with something so… straightforward.”

Interesting hesitation, but Nikita but let it go to turn to the stranger. “Are you local?”

“Yep. Lexie DeWitt. I’m helping out with the Haven PD. It’s a long story. Welcome to Maine.”

Nikita lifted an eyebrow and immediately regretted it. “Thanks. I have to admit, I’ve never been to Maine before. You get many sentient tornadoes out here?”

Emily cleared her throat.

Nikita rolled her eyes; another immediate regret. “I’m sorry. What I meant to say is, do you get many sentient _water spouts_ out here?”

Emily smiled.

“I’m sorry, what?” Michael asked.

Lexie grinned. “You’d be surprised.”

Nikita gave her best pointed stare, trusting Michael to follow her lead.

Lexie’s smile slipped and after a few more seconds, she sighed. “Let’s just say that this town has some… unusual people in it. When those unusual people get scared or frightened, sometimes strange things can happen.”

“Strange thing?” Emily asked with skepticism so sharp it could cut through metal.

“Strange things like, maybe, unintentionally controlling the weather.”

Nikita exchanged an incredulous look with Emily. “There was that water spout,” Emily offered.

There _was_ that water spout. That water spout was pretty hard to ignore. “So one of these unusual people was on the boat?”

“In the hold,” Lexie said.

“That would have been a traumatizing situation,” Emily said, sounding like she was making an effort to be fair.

“And now?” Nikita asked. “Why the blue skies?”

Lexie winced. “At the moment, because of sedatives. However, it turns out the woman was in Haven looking for her birth mother. We’re working on getting Marion out here before those sedatives wear off.”

Nikita was mulling that over when Lexie’s eyes narrowed. “You know, you look sort of familiar.”

“You might’ve seen her on television a few times,” Michael said, his voice dry as dust. “During the whole incident with the president.”

“Wait, you’re Nikita _Mears_?” Emily looked more shocked than she had when she was staring at the sentient tornado.

“Honestly, I was kind of surprised you didn’t recognize me,” Nikita admitted. “Usually I have to be in another country to get the kind of anonymity I’ve had here in Haven.”

“I know how that feels,” Emily said. “A while ago, I was on the cover of every newspaper in the country.”

“That was probably when I was traveling.” It was hard to stay in touch with world events when you were roughing it in a Canadian forest. And before that she’d been so caught up with Division and Amanda that the only world events she managed to keep track of were the ones that Amanda orchestrated.

“I get that,” Emily said. “I was actually in the hospital with amnesia for most of the mess with the president. I heard your name a few times, but by the time I was… free, the president was back and the papers had moved onto other stories.”

Nikita stared at Emily. Emily stared back. They both turned to Lexie.

Lexie raised her hands. “Don’t look at me. I was stuck in an interdimensional barn for six months. And, you know, we’ve got a lot of local issues taking up the front page.”

“Interdimensional barn?” Emily repeated slowly.

“Not even the craziest thing to happen to me this year,” Lexie said brightly. “Or so I’ve been told.”

Emily and Lexie started to compare notes – and from what Nikita was picking up, the Hamptons made Division look like a kindergarten class – but Nikita’s attention was quickly caught by Michael, who shifted them both around so that her head was resting against his chest. “Don’t worry,” he said. “As soon as the EMTs get here to sign off on you, we can get out of Maine.”

Nikita thought about how not a single person in Haven had recognized her. “I don’t know.”

Michael raised his eyebrows. “You don’t know?”

“Well, it’s a pretty town. And, hey, we already shut down the human traffickers.”

“Nikita—”

“Michael, last time we went on a trip it was to Inner Mongolia and people _still_ recognized us.”

“That’s probably because we took out the regional secretary,” Michael pointed out. “And got the local chairman arrested for corruption.”

“Exactly. Just like everyone in South America knows we shut down that child soldier operation in Ecuador and broke up the Syndicate in Brazil. And everyone in Europe knows we saved the prince of Georgia—“

“And were guests of honor at his wedding,” Michael murmured.

“—and don’t even get me started on that whole mess in Kuwait. The only way I can go to the Middle East without getting mobbed is by wearing a burqa.”

“So you’d rather move back here, to US, where we’re stalked by reporters?”

Nikita gave him her best winsome smile. “No one’s stalking us in Haven.”

“You mean, aside from the possibly self-aware tornado?”

Nikita waved that away. “Being self-aware just meant it didn’t try to hurt us.”

Michael sighed.

“Birkhoff and Sonya are within driving distance,” Nikita said enticingly, “and Alex and Sam aren’t much further away.”

Michael sighed again. “Nikita—”

“And think of what a ticking time bomb this place is. What happens if news of this place gets out? Can you imagine what Gogol could do with someone who can control the weather?”

Michael opened his mouth and then closed it again. “All right, I’ll think about it.”

“That’s all I ask,” Nikita said and she cuddled a little closer to Michael, already planning how to get Alex out for a visit.

oOo

“Is it just me, or did those two sound like they were thinking of moving to Haven?” Duke looked flabbergasted.

“It’s not just you,” Audrey said as she waved goodbye to Emily, who had wandered off to help Stan stand guard over the prisoners and keep an eye on Marion's daughter. Audrey had to admit: for a tiny, non-Troubled rich woman, Emily could be really intimidating. The prisoners certainly thought so, probably because the one prisoner who had tried to escape was now lying on the ground, groaning pitifully.

Audrey turned back to Duke. “Though, honestly, I was starting to wonder how any non-Troubled people ended up in the town. I guess it just takes a special kind of person.”

“Yeah, the kind of special person who likes to ride in the short bus.”

Audrey rolled her eyes and turned to Nathan, who was carefully picking his way over the rocky shore. “Good news: it doesn't look like anyone but Nikita and Emily saw that water spout. And I called Dwight. He’s bringing Marion out.”

“Good. We’re not going to be able to keep that poor girl sedated forever.”

“Be fair,” Duke said. “She’s had a rough day.”

“She’s not the only one,” Audrey said. “Come on, guys. It’s time for tacos.”

“I could eat,” Duke said immediately.

Nathan narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but with Audrey on one side and Duke on the other, he didn’t stand a chance. By the time the sun touched the horizon of a cloudless blue sky, Audrey, Nathan and Duke were on a boat and racing for the Gull, where tacos and half-priced margaritas were calling.


End file.
